Comparative studies of three tropical wood species under compressive cyclic loading and various moisture content levels

摘要

The forest represents more than 80% of the national territory, in Gabon, which makes more than 22 million hectares of potential forest and a significant added value for the field of wood construction. Also, with more than 1900 mm of annual precipitation, a relative humidity rate of 85% and an average temperature of 27℃, the environmental conditions in Gabon seem harsh for wooden structures. Indeed, the literature shows that variations in climatic conditions (RH, T) but especially in the moisture content (MC) of wood, coupled with loadings, limit the life of wood in structures. This work deals with the study of the coupled impact of variations in the internal moisture content of wood and cyclic compression load-ing on the mechanical behavior of three tropical species (Iroko, Okume and Padouk). The results show that the module of elasticity and the maximal stress at the break of the species studied in this work is a function of the density of the species.